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The first pre-match postbag! Some fun analysis, predictions and reminiscing on classic smash-and-grabs.
Peter:
Paris may boast the Eiffel Tower, but it was Alisson who gave a towering eyeful of a performance in the City of Light. May he and the Reds give the French visitors a memorable lesson in Scouse today. Altogether now, ‘Allez allez allez!’
Justin:
The worst European smash-and-grab was the 1975 European Cup Final when Leeds totally outplayed Bayern Munich, had a perfectly good goal ruled out by Beckenbauer the referee, had a penalty denied, and somehow were beaten 2-0. It was at PSG’s home ground too. God, it was robbery… 50 years later, and I’m no longer bitter. But I’m still a bit traumatized.
Gary:
Do the Rafa v Jose years count, if both teams were determined to smash and grab in the same game, peaking in the 1-0 Champions League second leg? A game not even decided by a real life score, but a “ghost” goal?*
*Cech would have been sent off, less spoken about as spoils the story.
Kieran:
I wonder if Arne Slot is thinking that this is essentially practice for facing Arsenal next year-with an actual front line, of course. IMO Luis Enrique is the best choice for replacing Arteta, who is probably running on fumes at this point. And, of course, I shall ask that obligatory question at this time: Is Tuchel in the stands?
Unsure if Tuchel, who names his first England squad on Friday, is at Anfield tonight. I will keep an eye out!
Chris:
Predicting a great game no doubt. I think Slot is going to catch them cold, PSG will expect them to attempt to be the normal controlled Liverpool however expect a Klopp style heavy metal start and Liverpool to be two up in the first 20.
The top scorers of their respective leagues come head to head tonight. Neither scored in the first leg. What will their impact be tonight.
So, both teams field the exact same XI as the first leg.
Slot makes three changes to the Liverpool team that started against Southampton on Saturday: Robertson, Mac Allister and Jota replace Tsimikas, Jones and Núñez. Gakpo is fit enough for the bench after recovering from the ankle knock.
And as expected, Luis Enrique reinstates those eight changes made against victory over Rennes.
Team news
Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Van Dijk, Konaté, Robertson; Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Szoboszlai, Jota, Díaz
Subs: Kelleher, Jaros, Endo, Núñez, Chiesa, Jones, Gakpo, Elliott, Tsimikas, McConnell, Quansah
Paris Saint-Germain (4-3-3): Donnarumma; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Mendes; Neves, Vitinha, Ruiz; Kvaratskhelia, Dembélé, Barcola
Subs: Safonov, Tenas, Kimpembe, Ramos, Doué, Lee, Hernández, Mayulu, Zaïre-Emery, Beralso, Mbaye
Referee: Istvan Kovacs (Romania)
Team news will be coming shortly, with both sides expected to be fielding their strongest XI tonight.
Slot did confirm that Cody Gakpo will be in contention for the match after coming back from a knock but Tyler Morton (shoulder), Joe Gomez (hamstring) and Conor Bradley (hamstring) will miss out.
During their 3-1 against Southampton, Slot opted to take Dominik Szoboszlai off at half-time and later said he may have made a “mistake” by overworking the Hungarian. Will he hand Harvey Elliott the nod tonight instead?
Luis Enrique’s brings a fully fit squad to Merseyside and opted to rest almost his entire best XI for his side’s meeting with Rennes. Ousmane Dembélé, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Vitinha, Fabián Ruiz, Achraf Hakimi, Marquinhos, Nuno Mendes and Gianluigi Donnarumma will likely be on the teamsheet after being dropped at the weekend.
PSG’s Luis Enrique has “no doubt” that whoever wins tonight’s tie will be making it to the final, set for 31 May at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
Our goal is clear: to try to be better than our opponents. Away matches are always more difficult, but we have confidence in what we do well. We also know what we have to improve. We want to have the ball more than our opponents, and from there, we’ll see what possibilities come about.
One thing is for sure, over the course of the two games we will be seeing two of the best teams in Europe, two contenders to win the Champions League. Whoever wins tomorrow will go through to the final, I’ve no doubt.
Let’s start with what the managers had to say before the tie. The Liverpool head coach, Arne Slot, has branded PSG the most in-form side in Europe and knows his team have to be near-perfect to advance.
I do think so [that the best performance of the season will be needed] because PSG are the most complete team we have faced so far. What I mean by complete is, OK, we have faced Arsenal and City and they are not big margins, but the intensity they played at combined with the quality they have and they are one of the richest clubs. Maybe there is one club a bit further ahead.
They have so much quality and a great manager who has the team playing in a way that is not easy to play against. He brings the best out of every player and brings out an incredible work-rate. We have to be at our best. But we didn’t have ball possession at City away – the other richest club in the world together with Paris Saint-Germain – and at home we had a completely different performance against City.
Preamble
On the flight home from Paris last week, the Liverpool players were likely counting their lucky stars after their 1-0 defeat of Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.
It was a classic smash-and-grab, with the hosts dominating for most of the match. Alisson kept the visitors in the match with nine saves and Harvey Elliot ensured the visitors left the French capital with something, scoring moments after he came off the bench, the goal coming completely against the run of play.
The tie is far from over. A hungry PSG side will be keen of righting the loss of last Wednesday while Liverpool will hope to put on a better showing and record another famous night at Anfield under the lights.
With a spot in the quarter-finals is on the line join me for the 8pm GMT/9pm CET kick-off and, as always, feel free to send me an email with any thoughts, predictions, questions, complaints and your favourite Champions League smash-and-grabs.
